HELP!!!! - SEVERE Headaches??

[~ free * spirit ~]

TEXT Hey everyone. Well this message board is great!!!

I used to get headaches daily. A pretty dull pain through my head with severe sharp pains in my temples. Usually I will have these headaches for about 4 weeks everyday all day, the other times just at night or just in the morning. Then I occasionally get very severe headaches. Well the pain of these is probably only a few times worse then the daily headaches there is also blurriness, flashing lights, spots of swirling blackness (usually in my right eye) I havent had one of these for over a year, I came close the other day but took some medication to resolve the issue. It wouldnt be a big deal if the medication that could make it go away was tylenol but it's not. Marijuana is the only thing that kills the pain enough and makes me fall asleep until the headache gets tolerable. (I don't drink or smoke, the marijuana I use probably 2 or 3 times per year) I have been to lots of doctors and nuerologists about the issue. Once I started taking beCalmd a few months ago the headaches went away completely. About a month an a half ago I added omega3 and had a couple of headaches. Now I am having these headaches every day again. I have a job and school I can't be having this happen. Could omega3 be causing this or ?? My doctors don't seem very concerned, they won't do a brain scan or anything.... I wanted one done just because it seems like there could be something really seriously wrong but they don't seem to think so. Could omega3 be making me more vunerable to the headaches? Do any of you have any suggestions or info about what could be the cause or how to get rid of them? I mean since my doctors arent concerned I guess this must be normal?? But I have never talked to anyone else who has had this.

P.S. - It was thought to be migraines at one time but none of the migraine meds worked and also when people get migraines they like to be alone in a dark room with no sound relaxing while when I have a headache laying down usually makes it worse.

Any and all responses will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

[catseye]

Sorry I am confused, if the becalmed conqured it why did you add the omega 3??

I guess since they were gone then came back with the omega 3 I would GUESS that might be the culprit...

Also I dont know if what you are using is illegal where you are at, but if it is there is a prescription form of it... Its called marinol, my mom got the prescription for it, when she was going through chemo...

My other thought would be if it gets worse laying down, maybe it is a back problem or neck??

Im sorry I dont know alot about migraines... Good luck and I hope you find some peace from these headaches...

cat

[catatonic]

I get similar headaches and they appear to be allergy related, not bothering me at all in the dead of winter or in summer, but during the times of year when lots of things are putting their stupid pollens into the air. Nothing helps much so I just treat the symptoms (with Advil).

My son suffered from age 5-8 1/2 with blinding, incapacitating headaches. Since putting him on the Feingold diet, he has had only a couple of headaches and these have occured after consuming artificial colors. He used to have them at least weekly.

This is not to say that artificial colors cause your headaches, but that it's possible you're sensitive to something you're eating. Since your headaches last so long, it would have to be something you're eating on a daily basis. Try keeping a food diary. Include environmental information (like pollen level) as well. You'd be amazed how much you'll see when you write it down that you miss when relying on memory.

[sierra]

Could they be tension headaches from job stress? Just a thought. The job is a new addition to your mix too.


I get headaches that turned out to be migraines. I got a bunch of bogus diagnoses first. Starting at age 5 or 6. One of the earliest diagnoses was that my hair was too long and heavy. Another early loser was sinus headaches.

Triptans fix them so I don't really care what they're called anymore.

[freespirit]

I think the daily headaches could very well be tension headaches. But the very severe headaches that I get every once in a while are definantly not tension headaches, they arent migraines either. NOTHING makes the severe headaches go away. I'm getting more and more concerned about it. My doctors won't do anything, they're not concerened.

Heres a little more info about the situation (This is concerning the severe headaches, not the daily headaches)
Two things have been suggested to me:
1. That the headaches could be associated with some sort of seizure activity
2. The headaches could be associated with some sort of psychological trauma

Usually I can tell I am going to have a bad headache anywhere from 2 hours to a week before it happens. If I get nervous about it they seem to be even worse.

Heres a clearer list of the symptoms
1. Anywhere from a week to 2 hours before it happens I will know that I'm going to get a headache. Theres no physical symptoms that let me know its just a feeling. When I was younger I would start getting very anxious, nervous, and panicky when I had the feeling I was going to have one of these headaches. That seemed to make it even worse. Now I make a special effort to stay very comfortable and relaxed.
2. Before the pain starts I get a black area of vision with bright white flashing lights in my right eye
3. Spots of color/lights floating around
4. Severe pain (sometimes nausea, but usually I get very thirsty and want to drink tons of water)
5. Depending on how severe the pain is sometimes I have hallucinations (the worst was one time, I wouldve sworn there was a devil or demon running along my floor)

When its all over Im usually either very tired or else agitated, theres always smaller less painful headaches that follow. They last anywhere from 15min to 2 days.

Differences between my headaches and migraines I guess are that I HATE being in a dark quiet room and laying down while I have a headache. I like to listen to loud music and have a fan blowing on my face. Usually I pace back and fourth in the hallway. When its very bad (so bad I cant stand up because I can't see straight or am hallucinating too bad) I usually lay outside on the lawn. Being outside seems to help.

According to some tests I have temporal lobe ADD symptoms. (Just some, my main subtype is Ring of Fire)Im kind of wondering if these headaches could be associated with mild temporal lobe seizure activity.

Thanks for everyones input so far, any other advice/opinions will also be appreciated.

[sierra]

Until you started talking about wanting noise and light and wind on your face during these headaches I thought you were reading my mind. I can't imagine pacing around with my severe headaches.

The visual stuff sure sounds similar to migraines to me. Have your doctors ever tried a triptan as an abortive? You have to wait until the headache starts. For me I get very tired within 30 minutes of taking the medication. I sleep an hour or two and when I wake up the headache is either already gone or slipping out the door.

I apologize to any men reading in advance. If any thing PMS related gives you the willies please stop reading now.

Is there any correlation between the onset of your period and these headaches? I don't get one every month but if I do it's usually a week to 3 days before my period.

[freespirit]

The pacing around depends on if someone bothers me or not. I can get VERY mad if certain people do certain things to me when I have a headache. Mainly when I was younger my mom walking by my door or touching me at all or looking over my shoulder would make me mad to the point of yelling and screaming and blacking out (only a few times) but that was ONLY when I had a headahce. Also they can start when Im asleep sometimes, then if someone wakes me up well there would probably be a lot of swearing and similar talk (none that I would be able to remember though) No theres no correlation between the headaches and my period. There is a correlation between my family and the headaches though. I only get them if I have to see/talk to/ deal with certain people or situations, mainly involving my mother or her husband. Could be just because I hate them which causes stress which I guess would make me more vunerable to headaches.

~ * ~ Kristy ~ * ~

[sierra]

This question doesn't exactly belong in a natural alternatives forum. Has a doctor ever prescribed a triptan for your headaches? If it is a migraine or is caused by some kind of compression of a nerve the triptan will probably knock the headache down. Tension headaches can cause nerve compression. Dilation of blood vessels can cause nerve compression. Rebound from coffee can cause blood vessels to dilate and cause nerve compression. Usually people don't want to take vasoconstrictors because of potential blood pressure problems.

If you take a lot of supplements that are anti-inflammatory this could make migraines worse. Omega-3s are anti-inflammatories. Glucosamine, Ginseng, Ginko Biloba, SAM-E, MSM, Yarrow, and Feverfew are some other anti-inflammatories. So are B vitamins and magnesium. If you bruise easily you may be going overboard on anti-inflammatories.

Food for thought. I don't know how much Omega-3 and other supplements you take but it's a lot, then by reducing platelets you could be causing vasodilation and nerve compression.

Toxic family stuff definitely doesn't help with tension. Any way you can either change scene or change how you respond to the scene? Amen's chapters on Automatic Negative Thoughts might be helpful.

[~ free * spirit ~]

sierra... the main post was asking about OMEGA3, which is a natural alternative. So sorry that in your opinion it doesnt belong here... you didnt have to read it..

[sierra]

Kristy,

There I've done gone and did it again. I meant that my question about triptan medications might not belong on this forum. Not that your question about headaches doesn't belong here. Sorry for the confusion. I've got to learn how to make it clear when I'm talking about my questions and not about other people's questions. It's happened before. My bad.

I read your post because it mentioned severe headaches, which I suffer from. At first I focused more on what kind of headaches they could be because I got a real runaround about what kind of headaches I have. Lasted almost 30 years. Maybe more. Yeah definitely more. Closer to 40 years.

Some of your headaches could be migraines as near as I can tell. But I'm no doctor. That's why I asked about the triptans. If a headache can be knocked out with a migraine abortive then it's probably a migraine or a near relative.

Then I came back to the question of Omega-3s. Once again if your headache is a migraine then vasodilation can make it worse. Anything with caffeine in it can cause vaso-constriction which will help the migraine in the short term. But a lot of people develop rebound headaches after the caffeine goes away and the vaso-constriction is gone. By comparison to when the caffeine was in their system they've become vasodilated.

Like I said any anti-inflammatory whether natural like Omega 3s and MSM, or medication (like aspirin or aleve or ibuprofen or any of the prescription NSAIDS) can cause vasodilation and can make a migraine worse. That's one reason why Excedrine uses tylenol for their OTC migraine medication.

Just because my sprouts are on medications doesn't mean I'm not interested in alternatives. It's not an either-or issue in my opinion, though maybe I'm in the minority.

I don't usually respond to the posts here because I figure I'm a learner in this area. Not much to add in most cases.

But I've learned a lot about headaches in the school of hard knocks and bumbling doctors.

Since you read Amen, I thought the ANTS concept might be helpful in dealing with your family situation. I have to keep focusing on ANTS anytime I go home for a visit. I'm nearly 50 and my mother can still get me riled faster than anybody I know. And as Amen points out bad feelings start out as bad chemicals in the brain. So if you can arrest the feeling before the chemical cascade starts you can't help but be in a better place.

I'm real sorry I gave you the impression I didn't think your question belonged here. That's not what I meant at all. I'm not quite 50. I may learn to write more clearly sometime in the next 50 years.

[sierra]

One more random thought. Does weather seem to have a triggering effect on your headaches? We had a big low pressure zone blow through last night and it was about 4:00 am before I got my headache controlled. Big swings in barometric pressure especially downward can sure trigger a migraine especially if all the other migraine-friendly conditions are in place.

[EllenR]

While your symptoms don't match those of one of my co-workers, I thought I'd mention it. She used to have bad headaches all the time. Kept trying various medicines which might help for a little while but cause other problems -- she doesn't react well to medicines. Finally, she read about allergic reactions to MSG. She's cut back on products with that and her headaches are doing well.

Just a thought. It might help a little but obviously won't help with the family situation.

[rosyred45]

Free Spirit,
You were saying that you want to drink gallons of water?
Any time I get a head ache, which isn't often, I am usually dehydrated. I don't like to take ANYTHING, that's just me, but in most cases, whether it be : PMS WARNING : menstral cramps, leg cramps, head aches, whatever, after I drink about a quart of water, I start to feel a little better.

I hope this helped.
Kaiti

[lofo]

Free Spirit,
I am new to the board and I apologize if this offering of advice is too far away from the topic of ADHD.

I get severe headaches from TMJ. My mother also has this so I used her dentist. It is irritation in your jaw joint. The pain is usually the worst in the mornings but I get headaches that last for days occuring anytime. The pain is usually in my temples, above my ears, my neck, and especially my shoulders.

Nothing would relieve the pain. My doctor prescribed an anti inflamatory (motrin), and a muscle relaxer to take before bedtime. The muscle relaxer would lighten the intensity to keep my jaw from tensing at night time but it made me groggy the next day.

I then visited a TMJ specialty dentist. He took one look at my teeth and could tell I grind my teeth at night. I nor my husband knew I grind my teeth. I can see the wear now from worn away enamel and uneven wear. My teeth had become very sensitive on the front teeth tips. He made a customized splint I place over my bottom teeth at bed time. It looks like one of those tooth whitening covers.

I can tell such a difference now that I have been treated for 4 months. My headaches may still come every once in a while, but not the severity and frequency I previously experiecned. My husband is so happy about the change. I am not the

The grinding is worse when you are emotionally or physically stressed. When my schedule gets overloaded or if I worry too much I can tell I need to back off.

Another thought if you a woman: I use to get migranes when I ovulated. Many women get migranes at certain times of the month due to low progestrone horomone levels. I use Arbonne's Phyto Prolief cream for 2 weeks every month. I have been doing this for 4 1/2 years and I can tell a big diff if I run out and miss applications.
You rub it on your chest, neck, arms, hands, feet, etc. It has helped with all my PMS symptoms and migranes,


Lofo